Search for the Precious
by feliipsun
Summary: Haunted by her obligation to her parents and guilt, Toph decided to go alone to Wulong Forest searching for Sokka's most precious treasures; Boomerang and Space Sword. During her journey, something happened . An adventure with romance and a little action. Tokka/Maiko/Kataang, broken Sukka. Rated T just in case.
1. Decision and Realization

**Search for the Precious**

Chapter 1

"Decision and Realization"

* * *

_**Prologue**_

"Katara! Toph is missing!" he rushed to Katara at the corner of the hall. He took her hand and his eyes scanned the room, trying to find Sokka. "Where's Sokka? We need to search for Toph immediately. She shouldn't be too far from Gao Ling right now."

She gasped in disbelief, hoping that she had misheard what he said, "What had she done this time? Ran away from her house?"

"That's what I heard."Aang shrugged. His eyes were still lurking at the corners of the area.

"There!" Katara pointed her hand and ran to a door which leads to the balcony, automatically dragged her boyfriend; Aang almost fell at the heave, but caught up with her right away.

"Sokka! Sokka! Have you heard that Toph is missing? She ran from her house!" she told her brother the news she had just heard, under her breath.

"What?" Sokka widened his eyes and choked on his drink in shock.

* * *

A girl in green walked into the Jasmine Dragon. She pulled a wooden chair and sat on it. Her right leg shoved a stool beside her, and lifted her legs on it. On her left, a girl with two hair buns was placing a porcelain cup filled with black tea on a wooden table in front of her. The table was square shaped and it was located at the left corner of the shop, near the kitchen.

"Where's the others?" asked the blind girl in green, known as Toph. "I thought they are going here too."

Mai, the girl with two hair buns beside her shrugged, and answered, "They're late, as always. Aang isn't coming. I heard he went to a meeting at the palace."

"About the earth king again?" Toph took a tea pot and a cup from the middle of the table, and filled her cup. Unfortunately, the pot was empty and she didn't get any of the tea.

"Maybe." Mai played with her tea cup.

"They are." An old man took the pot from the blind girl to the kitchen, and filled it. "The earth king is currently missing." Iroh said from the kitchen, then he brought it back to the table, filled Toph's cup and went back to his seat beside her.

"Thanks uncle," she thanked with a smile. "The last time we saw him, he said he's going all over the world. So I'm not surprised if no one can find him."

"Did he take his bear with him? What's his name again? You know, the one I let you took at the palace," asked the girl across Iroh.

"I don't know. Bus… Bos…" Toph replied with an unsatisfying answer.

"Bosco."

"Yeah! Bosco." She sipped her tea, and then praised Iroh for his tea. The old man laughed.

"How is Zuko doing? And how is your relationship with him going?" he addressed the question to the girl who was blushing across him."

"Ummm… fine."

"Uh oh, someone's heart is still blooming of the engagement a month ago." Toph teased her friend, with a huge smirk on her face.

"How about yourself?"

There was silence in a while, until she answered, "meaning?"

"Don't think I don't know." She replied. This answer made Iroh put his tea down with curiosity o his face.

"I think you don't know what?" the earth bender was confused. She really didn't understand wht the knife thrower meant.

"You and Sokka." She said with a winning smile, "you like him, don't you?"

Toph blushed a bit. She tried to cover her cheeks with her bangs. "No."

"Don't lie to me. I know when a person likes someone. They usually act differently when a certain someone was with them."

"I don't like Sokka!"

"But you love him." Mai lifted her tea, and raised her eyebrows, with a small playful smile on her face.

"no way! How could I love meathead?" she exclaimed as her face flushed furiously.

"calling him names is another hint too."

Toph was silenced by this statement. She leaned down her head, hoping nobody could see the changes in her face.

"Don't worry to admit it. It's only me and Uncle Iroh. We can keep secrets."

Iroh, who had been quiet while two of his young friends were arguing, finally spoke his mind, "it's okay Toph. Loving someone is not something foolish or embarrassing. I too have seen things between you and Sokka."

She bit her lip. Thousands of things was running in her mind trying to understand what they had said. "I… I love Sokka?" she said faintly.

Both of them nodded.

"But... no! This is so wrong. Sokka is with Suki. I don't have a chance."

"You have. Believe me." Mai put her hand on her friend's, trying to comfort her.

"I don't! Sokka loves Suki. Suki loves Sokka. They're happy with each other. I can't steal Sokka from Suki." She said, raising her head. "Suki doesn't deserve something like that. Plus, she had saved my life during the last battle. If she didn't come… the boomerang and space sword he had thrown to save our life is meaningless."

"Mai!" shouted a voice from the entrance. There were three teenagers walked together. A girl ran a little towards their table in the corner, and hugged the girl in dark red and black. "Congratulations! I'm so sorry I didn't attend your engagement party."

Toph hinted Iroh not to continue their little talk before.

"It's okay, Suki. I knew you're busy." Mai hugged her back.

"So… when is the marriage?" Sokka said with a grin.

"Shut up Sokka. Don't make her uncomfortable." Katara said, approaching her friends.

"Speaking of marriage, do you know my parents want me to marry as soon as I turned sixteen?" Toph said, as she took another mouthful of tea.

"Seriously Toph? You're thirteen! Who talks about marriage to their thirteen year old daughter?"

"Apparently, my parents do." With her cup still on her lips, she flicked her eyes to Katara. Or at least where she felt Katara was.

"So… you need to search for a boyfriend now? "

"Well, considering that it's **MY** parents we're talking, I guess it'll be an arranged marriage."

Katara and especially Sokka were frozen. The siblings looked at each other, understanding that they both had the same thought. Yue. The Northern Water Tribe princess, Sokka's lost love, who had an arranged marriage before she sacrificed herself for the sake of the world.

He then sat on the empty side of the table quietly, with her girlfriend followed the boy and sat beside him. She didn't understand what made him so silent all of a sudden. She switched her sight to his sister, with a questioning look in her face. Katara shook her head, with her hand covering her mouth, hinted the Kyoshi warrior not to continue the discussion. She then opened a new topic like nothing ever happened.

* * *

A firebender came out of the ship and fired at Sokka and Toph. She fell off and Sokka held onto her hand. "My leg! Hang on Toph!" he screamed.

"Aye aye, Captain." She said. She didn't know what happened next. She could only feel the warmth of the hand her life's hanging on.

"Bye, space sword." _What happened with space sword? _She thought. _Did he…? No, no, Sokka would never throw his space sword._

"I don't think boomerang's coming back, Toph. It looks like this is the end." _Did he throw his boomerang too? The end? I'm… going to die? _She could feel the heat on her eyes, and something running through her cheeks. _I'm going to die here? Here?_

"Crash!" The airship was shaking horribly. _Oh no… I can't hang on anymore! Help!_ Her hands slipped from Sokka's, falling down to the sky.

_This is the end._ She closed her eyes, slowly. She felt wind crashing her back, her hair flying off her face. Her tears were drying. She tried to accept her fate as she fell freely to the sky.

Toph woke up. Sweat and tears were flowing down her cheeks. She gasped, her lungs striving for air.

"It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's just a dream." She chanted herself.

She felt guilt all over her heart, the scene of Sokka throwing his most precious treasures haunting her mind. She knew. He had thrown them, to save their lives. _To save __**ME**__._ She emphasized that one word. _Ok that's it! **I'm going to get Sokka's sword back. **_

* * *

"Bring me a map." She ordered her main maid, Madame Chen. She was sitting on a chair beside her bed, while hugging the chair's cushion. There was a small wooden table next to her, and a round window above it. She was in her house, the Bei Fong estate, in Gao Ling.

The lady was surprised for a moment, and then rushed outside the room and came back bringing a sheet of paper. "Here it is, Miss Bei Fong."

"Tell me how I can get to Wulong forest."

"Um… this nation is pretty big, so if you headed northwest through those mountains to Omashu city, and went past Kolau Mountains, or went through the Cave of Two Lovers, not recommended. Then go northeast. It is a far turn, because if not, you will have to deal with the desert, very not recommended. From there, you must go through a divide between two of the biggest island of earth nation. Go north, you will get past ruins of Taku, and go straight. Then go east for a while, and south, you will get to Wulong forest."

"Wow. That's far. How long will it take?"

"I guess... Two months on foot, and maybe two days on Appa." Yes, Toph had told her maid about the incredible flying bison of the avatar.

"Okay. Thanks for the explanation. You can go now." She waved her hand nonchalantly.

Madame Chen bowed to her master and left the room.

"It's going to be a long journey. I better start now if I want to attend Zuko's wedding." She giggled. She never actually thought that the fiery boy want to settle down this fast. Maybe it's just a part of his role as the Fire Lord. Then she said with a grin on her face, "three months, huh? Challenge accepted."

Toph stomped his feet to the floor, just for making sure Madame Chen was gone. But she felt someone in front of her door. It was her youngest servant, who was only a few years older than her. She snorted.

"Ling."

"Y-yes, miss?"

"You heard my conversation with Madame Chen, right?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I was passing in front of your room, and I overheard it. I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. Just keep it as a secret. I'm going next morning. Tell Madame Chen to make sure that nobody else knows about this; and this works for you too. Or else…"

"Yes, miss."

* * *

The sky was crystal clear. There was no sign of clouds anywhere. The heat of the sun caressed the soft cheek of a girl in green as she walked down the road. "So… tell me again how do I reach Wulong forest." Toph wondered, thinking hard, trying to remember what her maid told her before. "First is Omashu, isn't it? Yeah yeah Omashu."

"Now how can I get there? Oma I never knew travelling would be this hard if you can't read a map!" she exclaimed a silent cry. She felt helpless once again. "I just need to head northwest and get out of this town, right? After that, no one will recognize me and no one will know that I'm blind." she walked along the roads of her hometown.

She stopped for a while and tried feeling her house once again. Feeling everyone in her home. Her mother was taking a bath and her father was still sleeping. The guards were standing as lazy as ever in front of her house. The resident chefs were making breakfast and getting ready for lunch. Her maids were preparing a bath for her.

_Good, no one panicked._ She thought. _Good job, Ling._

_Better leave before they get suspicious._

* * *

There she was. Up on the mountain. Under the bright moon. Under the twinkling stars. Eating canned food by the side of a roughly built path. Her back was leaning against a tree. Her unseeing eyes were gazing up the sky, as though she's looking to the other universe.

She was so alone. She felt just like how she was before she ran away and met her earth bending teacher. The two badger moles. Toph's first friends. She can relate to them. Albeit very young, she was a quick learner. They were the ones to encourage her to stand up and not to be the weak, useless, helpless girl she always used, and assumed to be. Moreover, they could do that without any word coming out of their mouth.

Surrounded by lots of people in Gao Ling, Toph still felt so friendless. Her parents said that they were always there for her, looking after her, but in reality, they didn't. They just gave her to the hands of the maids. Yes, she had gotten wealth, service, food, luxury, but like any other child, she needed attention and affection from her parents too. Sadly, the most vital things in a child's life are the ones she didn't get.

Her childhood was different. Her parents expected her to become the perfect heir of the esteemed family in earth kingdom, the Bei Fong family. She had learnt manners and customs of society. Yet now, she had thrown all that. She had tossed aside the things she had wasted her childhood on. All the time, people asked her, "why?" Because she felt she can't. She's not the perfect, flawless heir to them, and may never be. She has her disabilities. She's blind. She admitted it. And they had been hiding her from the rest of the world, making people thought that the Bei Fong family didn't have any descendant.

She closed her eyes and yawned. With her horse stance, she built a tent made of earth, and swept her things into it. She then crawled in and slept.

* * *

"Thanks Aang," Sokka said, as he climbed down of Appa.

"Thanks for the ride, sweetie," Katara whispered as she kissed her boyfriend's cheek. Sokka shuddered just by hearing how his sister called the avatar.

"Seriously guys," he said, shaking his head, "do things like that when I'm not around."

Katara turn her head to the guy talking and narrowed her eyes, "well, you do this too. So why can't I?"

He raised his forefinger, "First, I don't call Suki like that. Second, I do mushy things like that when we're both alone."

"Yeah. Right. Then what were you doing at the serpent's pass?"

"What did I do?" his eyes widened.

"Nothing. Nothing." Katara answered in a high pitched voice, and a toothy grin on her face.

_Sibling's fight._ Aang silently said as he shook his head.

"Oh yeah Aang," Sokka reminded the boy on a bison, "Remember to pick us up in a week."

"I will." He said and then lifted himself to the air, "yip yip!"

* * *

"Miss Bei Fong, would you like to have some lunch?" Hung said as she knocked.

"Click!" _ah… the door's not locked_. She turned the knob slowly, expecting her little mistress to yell at her for entering without permission.

But only silence replied her.

"Miss?" she peeked inside a little, examining the room. Her eyebrows furrowed, as she felt something wrong. Then she froze. Her eyes widened, and her hands covered her lips, she was struggling not to scream. In a flash, she ran to the main room in panic.

"MISS BEI FONG IS MISSING!"

_to be continued_

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This story is based on the characters and plot of "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

* * *

Please enjoy this story. This is my second attempt to write in English after finishing several stories in my first language and one in English.

A special thank you for all of you who had added this story to their favorites and alerts, and those who had reviewed my story and especially to people who added me to their author alerts and favorites. Thank you thank you!

Comments, critics, suggestions, corrections (especially in grammar), or anything related to the story are welcome. Just click the review button!

Thank you for reading this story.

PS: Hey look! Another Madame Chen! It's my friend's Chinese name, so I added her name here. HAHA YOU'RE MY SERVANT NOW HAHAHA okay it's Toph's but still. *ignore this part please*

**UPDATE**: I compressed my stories. I combined every two chapters into one, but nothing changed in it though. :)

((SPOILER: the prologue isn't what you think it is. ;P))


	2. In The Palace

**Search for the Precious**

Chapter 2

"In The Palace"

Part 1

* * *

She woke up and stretched her limbs. Sleepily she got into her horse stance and knocked off her tent. Her hand rubbed her eyes as she yawned, and then brushed a thick mist of dust off her under tunic. She took her stuffs and scanned the mountain, just making sure that she's heading the right direction. Omashu is still on the other side of the mountain.

She put on her coat and covered her head with its hood. It was brown colored, with a little gold touch at some various parts. It had a belt with the same color, stitched at the back of the coat, but she preferred not to tie it around her waist, instead she let it hung around freely.

Most people are at least a little more cautious when walking alone, and Toph wasn't an exception. She is the greatest earth bender in her time, the champion of Earth Rumble VI, the teacher of the avatar, and the one and only, Toph Bei Fong, one of the heroes of the hundred year war. And to be cautious is one of her traits, and also a habit as a result from having to fight a lot.

As she walked, she noticed a village. A really small one, which only had a few houses and families. There was a market and a small shop up there, other than that there were tea farms. There were no wonder why people grew tea up here. The best condition for growing tea trees are in mountains with cool climate.

She went to the shop. It had a very thick smell of various teas that were sold there and a slight smell of cooked food.

She walked to the nearest table, and waved her hand, "what is the most preferred food here?"

The waitress handed her a menu book, and pointed her forefinger at the first page. "Lo mien with pork and for the beverage," she turned the book to the last page, and said with a friendly smile, "Kwan yin tea boiled with chrysanthemum flower."

"I'll order that." Toph closed the menu and gave it back to the girl beside her.

"Nice choice!" she took it back and jumped her way to the kitchen. "One lo mien and Kwan yin chrysant tea, papa!"

_She seems so happy._ She thought.

"Please wait a minute while my parents make your order!" she shouted cheerfully from the kitchen.

_Well, too happy._ She corrected her previous thought. _She reminds me of Ty Lee._

"Here it is!" She said as she hopped back to the table Toph's sitting, bringing a tray out of the door. She put the tray on the table, and place her hot bowl of lo mien in front of Toph. She flipped an upside down cup, and put a tea pot beside it. They were made of porcelain and was green colored. "Don't pour it yet! Tea is in its best flavor if it had been boiled for a few minutes and had had its dark color."

"I know, but thank you." Toph smiled as she took her chopsticks from a box at the corner of the table. She had learnt this when she's still a child. From how much tea leaves should she put inside the pot, how much water is ideal for boiling the tea, what to put in to add sweet flavor and what things to make it smell better.

She knew how much cinnamon to add an unique flavor, or chrysanthemum flower to add sweet flavor and smell. She knew better than to add a bunch of sugar to her tea. She knew that putting milk in tea will only make it lost its flavor and neutralize all the good things in tea. She knew she shouldn't drink cold tea if it still had tea leaves in it. She knew how to serve and drink tea properly, to spin the cup three times, and smell the aroma before sipping it bit after bit.

"Hey there, gorgeous." She heard someone said. From her bending, she could 'see' that the person was standing in front of her, a teenager boy, 15 or 16, maybe. _He's at the same age as Sokka, ya know? _Someone inside her teased the blind girl. _Shut up._ Toph said silently, flushing a bit.

"Lo mien? I like that too."

_Is he trying to flirt with me?_ She narrowed her eyes and raised her head, silently chuckled for the foolishness of this guy. "What do you want?"

"Whoa there, beautiful. You should be lonely for eating alone. Want a company?" he put his hand on the corner of the table and raised his eyebrows.

_He's so dead. _"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure. Now, leave me alone." she waved her chopsticks to the stranger.

"Cih, arrogant little queen." He turned and walk away from 'the queen'.

Just after he said that, Toph kicked the ground and fluttered her hand, making an earth pillar that threw him to the ceiling. She kicked the ground once again, and the earth pillar was gone. The teenager fell screaming with a bam.

"Wha-? Argh… What, in the name of Oma and Shu, just happened?" he sat up rubbing his back.

"Brother! Are you okay?" the waitress ran towards them, slamming the kitchen's door.

"He's your brother?" Toph asked in surprise. _No wonder then. A cheerful sister and flirty brother, that's obviously in their blood. I want to know how their parents are like._

"Are you hurt?" the girl asked her brother, unconsciously ignoring her customer question.

"Not really. My back hurt a bit, but it's okay." Then he pointed his finger to Toph, "That girl earth bended me!"

"He insulted me." Toph casually said as she continued her lunch.

"But you don't have to earth bend me like that!" he defended himself.

"What is happening here?" a husky voice said from the kitchen. A man wearing a tan apron walked out and stared at the three teenagers.

"That girl there earth bended me, father!"

_So that's their father. Wow. A muscly guy, huh? That's not how I imagined him to be like._ "He insulted me." Toph repeated what she had said before, still in the same casual style.

"You could just say you don't like what I said or something, no need to attack me like that!" the boy complained furiously.

"I'm not exactly the talkie-talkie type of person." She closed her eyes and ate calmly.

"But not like THAT!" he threw his fist in the air frantically.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the father's deep voice silenced the whole shop. "I'm sorry my son acted like that, young lady. This will never happen again."

"Daaddd!" protested his son. _Cih. A spoiled brat._

"Don't act like that again, young man!" he reprimanded. "You will bring a bad name for our shop if you keep acting like that. Understood?"

_Whoa. Scary dude._

"Y-yes, father." He lowered his head, resisting the urge to scold his father back.

"Say sorry to this young lady!"

"…" an uncomfortable look appeared at his face.

"NOW!"

Defeated, he finally said, "s-s-sorry."

Toph put a winning smile on her face. "It's okay."

There was silence for a while. The man went back to his kitchen, and left the three teenagers in awkward situation.

"Uh… Anyway, did you know that King Bumi is going to throw a party in Omashu at Friday?" the sister tried to crack the ice.

"You're invited?" asked Toph. She's surprised that a family in this small village could get an invitation to the king's party.

"Ummm my friend is. And he asked me to accompany him." She answered, blushing.

"Him, eh?" her little brother and Toph teased at the same time. He looked at Toph with a rivalry look.

"Eh… um I got to go back to the kitchen. See you later!" she said, feeling her cheeks and ears became hot.

"She has a boyfriend, doesn't she?"

"Not really. Her friend obviously likes her, and he showed it unconsciously through action, he tried to hide his feelings though."

"And how about her? Doesn't she like him too?"

"Yep. And she's very good at hiding her feelings. She had a lot of boy friends, but she had never seen someone that way before." he shrugged his shoulders.

"Then why don't they... well... date?"

"The boy is from a noble family. His parents don't approve their relationship. Have you heard about the Pang family?"

"Yeah, I know them." _Oh my, Hiro likes that girl? _

"So he-! Wait, you KNOW them?"

"Ah… yeah. Kind of. I… I heard about them." She lied. Of course she does. The Pang family and hers are very well connected. She had seen Hiro, their son, a few times. He's tall but chubby, and people said that he's pretty handsome too.

"Okay… Err... Anyway, I have to go. Bye." He walked to the stairs next to the kitchen, escaping the awkwardness of the situation.

The earth bender nodded, and continued eating her lo mien in peace.

* * *

A bison landed on a land of soft grasses, and three teenagers on it hopped down as wind blew their clothes gracefully.

Aang patted the bison on the head, and walked away from it as he said, "I've got a meeting in the palace. I'll be back at dinner time."

"Uh, I'll go with you." The only girl between them said.

"I'm not." Sokka put his palms at the same level as his head, and then stroke Appa gently. "I'll take Appa to the shelter. You two can go to the meeting. Then I'll go strolling around, okay?"

"Okay, thanks." she waved her hand and went inside the building with the avatar.

* * *

Toph had walked downhill and playing with her meteor bracelet along the way. She was now walking a high and narrow path which led to the city's main gate. The path was old and made of earth. Some part had been destroyed by the earth king, but the Omashu army had rebuilt it again, leaving a mark at the joints of the old and the new parts.

"Who are you? And what is your business here?" a man said as he formed his earth bending stance and lifted a boulder in front of him.

Toph waved both of her hands, shifting the guard and his boulder aside her way. With her 'kindness', she stomped her foot and a pillar came out at the path's right side, saving the guard's life. But she quickly sealed his limbs to prevent him from attacking her. His two friends behind him quickly got into their horse stance.

"Relax." She showed them her family document, and the two of them calmed down. One of them hurried to free his friend while the other signaled his friends to open the gate, and the three gates split, letting her to go through to the city.

She strolled around and found a restaurant on the roadside. Her legs moved unconsciously to the shop, and ordered a pot of tea for herself.

"Jasmine tea and a bowl of xiao long bao dumplings, please."

"That's five copper coins." A middle-aged man said.

She dug her money belt for a silver coin, and put it on the table. The man searched his sling bag for her change, and handed them to his customer. He then walked back to the kitchen, "one jasmine tea and xiao long bao." He walked back to Toph's table, and asked, "Anything else you need?"

She shook her head.

"I'll order green tea." A young man said beside her.

"Two copper pieces."

"There." He handed the waiter a few coins from his money belt.

Her body tensed up at the voice. "Snoozles?" Toph said, not hiding any surprise in her tone.

The young man turned his head and finally realizing the one talking to him, his jaw dropped. "Oma! Toph? What-? Oh yeah, the Bei Fong family is invited to the party too, right?"

"No. I went here by myself. Oh thanks." She said as the waiter came back and put a pot of tea and a hot bowl in front of her. He put another pot in front of Sokka, and then walked away to greet another customer.

"Thank you," He showed his gratitude as his hands poured the tea to his cup, "So you're coming to the party alone?"

"I'm not going to the party. I didn't bring any clothes to attend it."

"Then we'll go shopping! Come on, I don't want to be alone with that lovey-dovey couple. Pleasee?" he begged his old friend with his puppy eyes, before he smacked his forehead when he realized the fact that she's blind. "Just come with me, okay?"

"Where's Suki? She can go with you, right?" she asked as casually as possible.

Sokka shrugged his shoulders; his lips pouted, and said languidly, "She's the leader of the Kyoshi Warrior so she needs to be there."

Yes, Suki had headed over to Kyoshi Island because she couldn't leave the other warriors without her for too long. They often got too lazy when their leader wasn't there and she had to make sure that they hadn't let their fighting skills slack off for too long.

The blind earth bender took a pair of chopsticks and lifted a ball of small and white steamed dough. With a mouth full of dumpling, she nodded her head as she mumbled something.

"Sorry?" he narrowed his head and brought his ear closer to his friend.

Toph swallowed her food and repeated, "I don't bring any dress. Borrow me one from Katara's wardrobe or buy me one." After a few moments, she continued with a wide grin, "or you could convince your sister to let me go there with this tunic. Yeah! I like the second option better."

"Believe me; even Aang can't convince her for you."

Toph slammed her cup on the table and put her dumplings inside her bag. "Okay meathead, let's go!"

"Wait a minute," Sokka drank his tea quickly and filled it again for his last cup of tea. Out of the blue, a hand took his arm and led the cup it was holding to her mouth, a few drops spilled from her mouth to her chin. He stared at the hand's owner vacant eyes, utterly surprised.

"Slow poke." She brushed the tea off her jaw and marched outside the shop, with Sokka's eyes were still tailing her. When finally realization struck him, he grasped his bag and followed Toph outside. He jogged to catch up with her, and tapped her shoulder. His fingers pointed forward as his lips lectured her about the party.

They entered a clothes shop and considering Sokka's taste in fashion, Toph forbid him to pick her a dress and instead she let the employee to do so. The employee gave her a dress and led her to the changing room.

"Sokka. Since I can't see how I look, well?" He heard his friend called him. He turned his head, and saw a petite girl wrapped in green silk dress. It showed every small curves she had that he didn't even know when they developed, and it was long enough to touch the floor, covering her bare feet, but sadly, her bangs still hid her beautiful face.

"Uh, um, you look good, I mean, great, eh, awesome, err I mean… beautiful?" he scratched his neck, his eyes were still staring at the beauty in front of him.

"Okay. I'll take this." She went back to the changing room and took off her dress. She pulled up her tunic, opened the curtain, and handed the dress to the employee.

"You sure? You haven't even seen the others." Sokka questioned her decision.

"I don't really care what I wear. As long as I'm in a dress and I can sneak to the party, I guess it's all right."

"That will be six silver coins." The employee said as her hand quickly folded the dress and put it into a bag.

"Meathead!" she pointed her chin to the person beside her, hinting Sokka to pay.

"What? No way, I'm not paying!"

"Oh yes you are. I said either you buy me a dress or you rob something from Katara's wardrobe. Eventually, you dragged me into this shop, and that means you're taking option one."

He bit his lower lip, looking very uncomfortable. "Uhhh…"

Her lips curled into a sly smile. "And you're the one that wanted me to come to the party, or did I hear that wrong?"

Sokka sighed and reached for his money belt, defeated. He took out all the things inside it and poured it on the table. "One… two… three… I've got four silvers and… eleven… twelve… fifteen coppers. Is that okay?" he raised his head, facing the employee, and offered those nineteen coins in his hands.

"I'm sorry, but I can't take less than six silver pieces." She pushed his hand politely.

"You are really, really useless, meathead." She dug her money belt and took two silver coins to her hands. She put them on Sokka's hand and pushed it to the employee. "There." She took the bag from the employee and left the shop.

After a few punches and bruises on Sokka's arm, they reached the palace's gate. The palace, as people said, was big and glorious, magnificent and extravagant, but still simple and earthy somehow. The gate keepers bowed to them – or to Sokka, because some of them probably didn't recognize Toph (well doesn't that deserves an earth pillar) – and opened the double metal gates in front of them.

"Welcome to Omashu's royal palace."

_to be continued_

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This story is based on the characters and plot of "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

* * *

Wow. Just... Wow. I uploaded it! Not this week though, but it's weekday and I am permitted to touch my laptop!

Thank you for all of you who had added this story to their favorites and alerts, and those who had reviewed my story and of course, to people who added me to their author alerts and favorites. Those had made my day.

Comments, critics, suggestions, corrections (especially in grammar), or anything related to the story are welcome. Just click the review button!

Thank you for reading this story.


	3. In The Palace: part 2

**Search for the Precious**

Chapter 3

"In The Palace"

Part 2

* * *

"Welcome to Omashu's royal palace."

They walked past the gates quickly and got in front of a double-door that were leading to the hall. They went upstairs and got into a long corridor. As they walked, they heard a few noises at their right, which was one of three meeting rooms in Omashu. Sokka led her to his room to rest for a while, and for Sokka to get ready for the party.

"You're not going to wash up? I know you don't usually do this but it's a party, Toph." Sokka took his towel from his wardrobe.

"I don't want to…," she answered as she grabbed his pillow and dragged it on the ground. She heard Sokka went to the bathroom and locked the door as she sunk her face to the pillow.

* * *

Toph was truly blind. She couldn't 'see' anything and she couldn't do anything. All she knew, her limbs were locked, and she couldn't move. She was so weak that she couldn't even open her eyes. She felt drips of water falling to the crown of her head.

"Toph."

_A drip at a time. No, two drips. No, one dri… two… this thing is inconsistent!_

"Toph!"

She felt something shook her body.

"TOPH!" her eyes shot open. She was breathing hard. Her heart beat fast and sweat was streaming down her cheeks.

Her hands swept them off. "What is it, snoozles?"

"You're the snoozles one here." Sokka protested, not approving his friend's nickname for him. "Anyway, the party's starting. When do you want to go downstairs and join them?"

"I guess now is okay." She got up and took her dress, "get out, meathead!"

He walked faster to the door, "I'm walking!"

Toph waved her hand and the door closed. "Ow!" A voice groaned from outside the room. _Oops. _She thought as she took off her tunic and slipped herself to the dress. She untied her headband and fixed her hair to her usual trademark bun.

She stepped out and met Sokka who was standing beside the door. He turned his head and saw the beauty in front of his eyes, making him lost in his own thoughts. He had seen her in this dress before, but she still amazed him on how she had grown. She had been taller, and now she's just a head shorter than him. Her hands were strong and truly in shape. It was amazing how those powerful hands had a fair pale skin that felt so soft. Her petite figure had developed; making her looked more mature than she once had been. She's not the same twelve year old little blind girl he once knew anymore.

She punched his arm and walked casually ahead of him. He smiled, _good thing she had only matured physically._

* * *

Aang was sitting uncomfortably at the end of a long wooden table in the center of a large room. Beside him, Katara was holding his hands, comforting the young avatar in his not-very-first meeting. He had been into a couple of meetings before, and each time he did, he still looked as nervous as his first time.

After half an hour, the meeting was over and Aang could finally relax. Katara had left to go to the bathroom and he was waiting for the elders to leave the room; it was one of the basic etiquettes he knew in formal meetings. He had finally made his exit just when a lady approached him.

Aang bowed to the woman before him, and then raised his head to recognize her. It was one of King Bumi's best acquaintances in the southern earth kingdom. "Lady Mala, it's an honor to meet you. What had brought you here today, may I ask?"

She returned the bow, and said, "It's the party. It is held in the hall, I suppose?"

"Yes, it is, my lady." He answered politely.

"However, my presence isn't just for the party. I am here to meet you, avatar Aang. I have heard a word from the south."

"And what is that news?" he said curiously.

"One of my resources said that the Bei Fong's daughter had gone missing. The head of the Bei Fong family, Lao Bei Fong, assumed that you had kidnapped her once again. I'm afraid if you didn't bring his daughter back to him as fast as possible, he will bring you terror with his huge influence in the earth kingdom."

"That's terrible! I had never kidnapped Toph!" he was trying to keep calm, but inside, he's burning in anger. Lao Bei Fong had accused him once, and now he was doing it again.

"I believe you didn't. But with his power, he could do anything to you. But worry not, my dear avatar. A lot of people believe in you like I do too." She nodded understandingly. "Now if you excuse me, my friend had been waiting for me inside." She bowed to him, as a bid of goodbye.

"Thank you for telling me the news, I would be doomed if you didn't. And of course, I hope you will enjoy the party." He bowed back lower than she did with his hands gesturing his permission. Then he hurried to the bathroom at the hall, where Katara had gone.

"Katara! Toph is missing!" he rushed to Katara at the corner of the hall. He took her hand and his eyes scanned the room, trying to find Sokka. "Where's Sokka? We need to search for Toph immediately. She shouldn't be too far from Gao Ling right now."

She gasped in disbelief, hoping that she had misheard what he said, "What had she done this time? Ran away from her house?"

"That's what I heard."Aang shrugged. His eyes were still lurking at the corners of the area.

"There!" Katara pointed her hand and ran to a door which leads to the balcony, automatically dragged her boyfriend; Aang almost fell at the heave, but caught up with her right away.

"Sokka! Sokka! Have you heard that Toph is missing? She ran from her house!" she told her brother the news she had just heard, under her breath.

"What?" Sokka widened his eyes and choked on his drink in shock.

"Don't just 'what' me! Come on, we need to find Toph immediately!" she strode to the shelter to find Appa.

Instead of following Katara, he turned his head to the person beside him. "You ran away from your house AGAIN?"

"What?" Katara questioned over her shoulder.

"T-Toph?" Aang rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his sight.

"What's up twinkletoes, sweetness?" Toph nodded. Then, without raising her head, she smirked. "And for your question, Sokka; well, kind of."

Katara gave her a bone crushing hug, and then gripped her shoulders with her hands. "Toph! You made me worried sick! What have you done? Why did you run away? You could at least tell us that you're going somewhere! Are we not your friends?"

"In fact, you are my first true ones." She said, making her friends smile happily. "I had a few reasons, sugarqueen. They kept talking to me about marriage and suitors, and all things around that." She circled the air with her forefinger, and then pointed to the boy beside her. "And plus, I owe Sokka here my life. I'm not going to be all weepy and mushy thanking him, so I'm going to pay my debt by returning those he had thrown to save me." she paused a moment, then continued, "well, to save both of us, actually."

"So you snuck out of your house like that? You could at least ask someone to write you a note for your parents." Katara protested.

Toph scowled, "Why should I?"

"Well, it's your parents! You should at least tell them where you're going!"

Toph shrugged her shoulders, "Uh, well, if I did, there will be dozens of men searching for me and if they caught me, I will be locked up in the house."

"Actually, if you ran away like that, things could get worse."

"Eh…"

"I don't want to hear your excuse, so tomorrow we're bringing you home to ask for your parent's permission. Then, and only then, you can go wherever you want to go."

Toph furrowed her eyebrows, and then walked away from her friends, especially the one that had just scolded her.

"Don't you walk away while I'm talking to you!" she heard Katara reprimanded her, but she kept walking farther from her. _ What happened with sugarqueen? We had just met again after a long time and the first thing she did was lecturing me? Seriously, sweetness. _She shook her head at the thought.

* * *

"Katara," Aang called, taking her hand, stopping his girlfriend from chasing Toph.

Before the avatar could say anything, Sokka had spoke his mind, "Calm down, you can talk to her later, can't you? I'm sure she's not leaving soon."

"I know, but…"

"We all know she hates being scolded." Aang's voice softened. Katara silently agreed his statement.

"But I need to talk to her. I'm sure she had caused a huge problem, so she can't just walk away like that." She pulled her hand away from his and blended with the crowd.

"Katara… Katara!" he followed his girlfriend who was seeking after Toph, leaving Sokka alone. His eyes tailed the couple as they rushed and he complained, "Why is it that every time I hang out with those guys, I'm left alone in the end?"

He rolled his eyes and went strolling around the hall, trying to find Toph too.

* * *

"Toph?" sounded a voice from her left. She turned her feet toward the source of the voice. A young man, probably in his twenties, approached her in a friendly gesture. "Toph Bei Fong?" The young man bowed to her, with a hand holding someone behind him. "You're Toph Bei Fong, right? It has been such a long time after I last saw you!"

_Hiro._ She recognized. _Okay, for the sake of my parent's honor – even though I hate them, but hey, they're still my parents._ "Oh, Hiro! How have you been?" she replied as soft and lady-like as she could. She'd always been like this since little, anyway. So she wasn't putting any effort in faking hospitality, with sincerity in her tone.

"Very well, actually. How about yourself? I heard you've become friends with the avatar!" he sounded really friendly and nice, but fake somehow. That's what you'll be with too much obligation from such a big and wealthy family. The Pang family was just like Bei Fong's, and they shared a politically very well connection with each other. Both patriarchs of the mentioned families also had the same level of honor and dignity, and also the same amount of ego.

_Oh, so he had heard about it. That should've erased the 'little obedient helpless blind girl' image in his head. Good._ She answered nonchalantly, "truth to be told, yeah. And a teacher to him as well." She held herself from grinning smugly, but unfortunately, her tone was not doing a great job of humbling herself.

He scratched his neck, utterly confused what to say,"Uh… that's really… remarkable."

"Who's that you're with?" she planted her feet to the floor. She was familiar with these floaty footsteps. It's light, akin to feather fallen on the ground, she almost felt like flying. "Don't say that… you're that cheery girl from the tea shop, am I right?"

Hiro glanced to his surprised companion, shifting gazes between the two girls, "so you've met before! That's really great."

"Quit the garble, I know you're dating her." she pointed her little finger to the couple, though missing them a meter, as a small surprised shriek came from both off them.

"H-how…" they stammered. Toph put a glass on her lips, with a proud smile glued to it. "how did you come here, but the way?" the girl asked her.

_Trying to change the topic, ha. Alright, I'll let you pass this time._ "I've got my ways, miss…?"

"Oh true… you're a Bei Fong." the girl muttered.

"Ah! Where are my manners? Miss Bei Fong, this is Sawa. Sawa, Toph Bei Fong." He introduced, a small nervous laugh ended his words. The said 'Sawa' bowed to the girl sitting before her, replied by a nod from her. "So… we really need to get going. I hope we'll meet again!" He pulled his 'date', and blend in with the crowd.

_Believe me, you don't want to. _Toph mused as she lifted her legs and sipped her drink casually until someone came with his familiar footsteps.

"What is it, meathead?" Toph said nonchalantly. Her feet was lifted up on a chair. Even though she couldn't 'see' with her feet, she didn't need to hear him talk to recognize him; she could do it by hearing his footsteps, even with all those people dancing around her. Being blind came with some advantages; one of them was increased sense of hearing.

"You didn't even turn your he… oh right. Sorry." He apologized sheepishly and then sat on the chair beside Toph. "Why didn't you tell me that you want to get my boomerang and space sword back? I thought you're just having a normal holiday."

"Why should I? You didn't ask me," she answered with a huge grin. Her hand grabbed an apple on the table, and ate it.

"But thank you, you know, for even thinking of getting them back."

"No vrobrem." She replied with her mouth full. Then she swallowed it abruptly and asked Sokka, "What's wrong with your sister?"

He shrugged, "you know her. She gets upset with almost every little thing."

"Oma, I wonder how twinkles could stand being with her every day." She growled with a little tone of disbelief in her voice.

"So…" he scratched his neck uncomfortably, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Whoa, thanks Sokka, I'm sure you'll be a big help!" her sarcastic remark received a glare from the boy beside him.

He rolled his eyes and continued in a serious tone, and took a glass from the table beside him. "I'm serious, Toph."

His answer stunned her, but she quickly got back to her normal self. "Well, at least you can help me avoid sweetness for tonight."

"Only tonight?" he raised an eyebrow with his drink still on his lips.

She lifted her shoulders, "usually after a day her madness is already gone."

"What you said!" He lifted his glass in agreement. He then placed it into his mouth only to notice that it was empty. After staring down in it in disappointment for a minute, he finally got over it and instead he started to look around, observing the magnificence spread in front of his eyes.

He concentrated to the music playing around him, an energetic one, with some jazz touch from a guzheng plucked by a small man, creating a beautiful melody by his two hands. The guzheng he was playing was a full stringed box of wood, which meant it had 23 strings tied on it, with bridges made of wood that divided the strings to tune it.

He was distracted by the sound of his friend, "Sokka, we have a problem. Sweetness is coming over here."

And sure enough, his eyes quickly found a certain waterbender lurking near them. Her face was bright red, hinting her madness. She looked awfully intimidating this time. Without a word, he took Toph's hands – with some complain muttered from the hand's owner – and dragged her to get away from his sister. "You're lucky you can't see her face," he informed the girl whose hands he's dragging without looking into her direction; lucky for her he did not notice the blush she furiously had on her face. He was too focused in escaping an enraged girl to notice why she didn't pull her hand off his like how she usually did. "That's scary stuff."

Somehow they found themselves end up in the dancing floor. Toph released her hand away from the boy in front of him, and kicked his legs repeatedly. Although she heard a lot of 'oww's from the young man, she didn't stop what she's doing. "Why did you lead me to this place? There's too much… like how you say it; oogies around here!" she said, not finding any other word to describe the things happening around her. The slow music playing just added more oogies to the place. After she finally stopped kicking, she whispered loudly, "How did you get in here anyway? This place is so crowded."

A bright look came into Sokka's face. "Of course!" he snapped his fingers. "Katara won't be able to see us here! And even if she did, she would think that she was mistaken. I'm sure she believes that you can't possibly be here, since you're not the type to dance. Am I right?"

Once again, she kicked his legs. "Idiot, I can dance. I just don't really like it. But I must say; that plan might actually work."

"So," Sokka channeled to his alter ego, and said in his Wang Fire voice, with a hand offered to the young lady in front of him, "would you like to be my Sapphire Fire tonight and dance with your husband?"

She laughed, and took his hand, "Okay. But it's only because I can't do anything else here, got it?"

He put a hand around her waist, and she put hers around his neck. They swayed slowly, as slow as the music playing. Sokka was looking at her, admiring her matured figure. Her beautiful raven hair was still up in a bun, even though it's bigger than before. Some strands of her hair fell loosely in front of her face, contrast with her perfectly fair pale skin; he thought if it grew a few inches longer, it could be tucked inside her bun. His eyes went down to hers. They were still the same naughty cloudy eyes, with some mischievous and playful atmosphere misted around them.

"Are you staring at me, sleepyhead?" Toph asked teasingly with a smirk glued on her face. "I may be blind, but I also have that tickling sensation whenever someone stares at me."

Sokka shook his head and looked away, pulling Toph nearer to him so she won't see his blush. That's when he realized that it was a useless action. _Well, not entirely useless though._ He thought. It felt amazing to dance with her. Her warmth, her hand around his neck, her breath blown to his chest, her scent from her hair, and her gracefulness as he spun her around, he loved it all. He slipped her bangs behind her ears, leaving those pretty green eyes uncovered. He lifted her face so she was 'looking' at him, but she lowered his hands and lowered her head too. He heaved her face until it lay to his chest, surprisingly, without resistance from his partner. It was only followed by a punch to his ribs from her. She buried her head to his chest, scenting his smell, focusing on his heartbeat.

Unconsciously, he put his head on hers softly, wrapping her protectively. They weren't aware of the music changing, or the people swaying around them; all that mattered for them was their partner.

_to be continued_

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This story is based on the characters and plot of "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

* * *

I really thank you who had added this story to their favorites and alerts, and who had reviewed my story and of course, to people who added me to their author alerts and favorites. Thank you, really.

Comments, critics, suggestions, corrections (especially in grammar), or anything related to the story are welcome. Just click the review button!

Thank you for reading this story.

* * *

Little Tokka fluff, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed it.

For Jedimasterawesome: finally! Thank you for the idea by the way, I really hope you're satisfied with the dance scene.

I'm not sure with my grammar; since English isn't my first language, so I would like any correction, whether it's the grammar, or spelling. Thanks in advance.

**UPDATE**: I compressed my stories. I combined every two chapters into one,** there's a change in the middle part of the story, before Sokka found Toph.**


	4. The Right Mistake

**Search for the Precious**

Chapter 4

"The Right Mistake"

* * *

First of all, I would like to thank all the people who had reviewed my story. In chronological order, thank you for **Justthisguyyouknow, Linzerj, The Animanga Girl, Ryan a.k.a A goat, Zane-Ice-Fairy, Jedimasterawesome, Daisy312, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer, LandofMidnightRain, I'm. Only. Human. Dude (or previously known Chipettegirl4life), and last but not least, two anonymous reviewers**. I am truly thankful for your reviews and they really supported me in continuing this story.

From the bottom of my heart, I hope to reach 30 reviews with this chapter.

I love analysis, critics, and feedbacks about the story. So don't hold back your thoughts, and please send your opinions. I can't make a good story with only one mind, which is mine, because it's not enough. A critic, even the hateful ones, is helping me to construct the story.

Okay, off with the story!

* * *

"Oh, hi Sokka. Come here." Katara looked to the boy entering her room, who was now walking to the two people sitting on the floor beside the bed. He took Katara's pillow and sat down, hugging the fluffy stuff in his hands.

"So? What is it? You two look so tense. Spill the beans."

"Where's Toph?" Katara blurted. It seemed that she needed to talk to her immediately.

His mind wondered to three hours ago.

"_Why aren't you staying in the palace? You can sleep in one of the guest rooms there. You know Bumi doesn't mind us staying." He said, walking through the unusually bright alley in Omashu._

"_I've rent this place. I'm not wasting my money after booking for a night." She replied as they entered the inn._

"_Yeah, I can see why you picked this place." His eyes wandered through the place. It was obvious that the building was entirely made of earth – one of Toph's main reasons to pick the place - with earth bending. Sokka could see the earth bending traces but not as many as usual. It had been flattened and smoothened, clearly for the comfort and luxury of their customers. The lighting was enough, not too bright but not too dark either, really comfortable for the eyes; even though it didn't matter for Toph. There were three couches and a __small__ table at the hall, just like a normal house. The receptionist stood up and welcomed them, then asked them if they want to book a room. Sokka was about to refuse when Toph said she had rented a room and showed her key. They went upstairs and got in front of her room. Sokka excused himself to went back to the palace and bid goodbye to his best friend, receiving a nod and a punch from the girl._

"I walked her to her inn. She should be sleeping by now. Why?" he finally answered.

"Aang have something to tell her. Maybe he would tell her tomorrow." Katara said.

Aang let out a sigh and looked at them in the eyes. "I guess I have to tell both of you first then."

The siblings leaned their heads closer to the avatar; their curious eyes sparkled with huge interest.

* * *

Katara nid-nodded her head, absorbing the information that had just been told to her. Sokka, on the other hand, was stroking his chin with wrinkled eyebrows and narrowed eyes.

"So you're saying… that if we can't get Toph back as soon as possible, we're doomed?" Sokka, still in his thinking pose, asked him.

The bald nomad shrugged, "Pretty much; it's not impossible with his influence across this nation. We could only hope that Toph will cooperate with us."

Sokka responded. "She usually will, if we're under normal circumstances. But this time… I'm not sure. If we get her back to her parents, even without him thinking you kidnapped her, she will be… I don't know. Locked for her entire life, maybe? She ran away. **Again. **Her parents would think that… that… spirits. I can't even imagine what they'll do to her."

"I know! I can't hand her over to her parents too." Aang looked really guilty. It was his dilemma, after all.

"All this is hurting my head." Sokka shifted his hand to his temple and softly rubbed it. "Oma and Shu, Tui and La, Yue, spirits! Seriously…"

"Maybe some sleep will help. Come, we can talk about this tomorrow, with Toph." she emphasized the last two words and patted the boys' heads, then led them out of her room gently.

"Good night. Have a nice sleep, okay? I don't want you two to have a headache tomorrow." She kissed Aang's cheeks and hugged Sokka tightly. They both left to their rooms after that, with a blush in Aang's face, of course.

Sokka entered his room in the palace. He washed his feet thoroughly and opened his closet, then pulled out a clean under tunic. He changed his clothes and tossed those dirty clothes to his opened bag, missing it by a few inches. Ignoring his fail throw, he staggered to the corner of his room and plopped himself to the bed, his hands searched for his pillow. Realizing it wasn't there anywhere in his reach, he flinched, anxiously darting gazes to every corner, but his eyes immediately found the cushion on the floor.

He let out a relieved sigh and lifted it, burying his face into the warm softness of koala sheep-cushion pillow.

It smelled different. He had stayed here a few times before, and the pillow always smelled the same, like it had been washed by rose water and brushed by polished wood. But this time, his nose captured something different. The scent was faint and almost faded, but it was there. An earthy aroma with something else, which strangely, comforted him. He inhaled the scent, trying to attach it in his mind. It reminded him of Katara, and Mom, and… Suki.

His eyes slammed open, remembering something, even though he could see nothing with his eyes buried in the pillow. He whispered under his breath, "Suki…"

Memories of Toph and him suddenly filled his mind. He remembered how her body perfectly fitted his arms, how soft her hair brushed his hands, how her eyes weakened when he touched her pinkish cheek, sweeping her bangs out of her lovely face. How... _Stop it, Sokka! You're with Suki! Don't let a thirteen years old girl own your mind when you've got a pretty and tough girl with you! You idiot, you haven't been thinking of her when you met Toph at the restaurant! Don't you miss her? Huh? Don't you miss your seventeen years old beautiful warrior girl in Kyoshi Island?_

He shook his head, clearing the chaos in his head, wiping out train of thoughts possessing his mind. He flipped his back and inhaled the smell in his pillow.

It calmed him, and successfully drifted him to sleep.

* * *

The sky was colored blue, which was a sign of a new day. It was a fine morning, and the weather was wonderful. Grey and white clouds fluffed all around the sun, hiding the shy giant star. Below them, three teenagers were walking along the road as a breeze of wind caressed their skin, reddening their cheeks at its touch.

"Listen to me, Aang. You need to talk to her by yourself, it's the best way to tell her." Katara put a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him.

"Okay, okay." Aang took a deep breath and released it. After he felt calmer, he led the way into the inn Sokka had guided them to, the inn Toph stayed in last night. They walked toward the receptionist and nervously he asked, "Excuse me; could you tell Toph Bei Fong who is staying here that her friends have come to talk to her?"

"Toph Bei Fong… please wait a minute." She opened a big book and traced her finger to the words, "she had checked out this morning."

Katara rapidly asked, "she had?! Did… did she tell where she was going?"

"No… I'm sorry I can't help." The receptionist replied sympathetically.

"Okay then. Thank you." Sokka responded and walked away from the inn. His tone was filled with anger and irritation. "I can't believe she just ditched us like that."

"I know! and I'm not sure I can search for her since I've got a meeting in the palace." Aang shouted in frustration.

"I think you scared her, Katara." Sokka turned to face his sister. "You said you're going to escort her to her parents for permission, and now she's gone."

Katara's face turned beet red, "you think **I** caused this?!"

"I'm just trying to be realistic here, if there's one thing Toph hates the most, it's meeting her parents, especially after she left them like that."

"Well, eventually, we ARE going to do that!" Katara seethed. Her face reddened, full of anger. She turned quickly to her boyfriend, asking for support of her retort.

Aang stepped backward in surprise. Then he approached the eldest person between them, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry Katara, but I'm with Sokka in this one."

"Aang yo-!" her words were hung in the air. Silence filled the void created by their lips. She exhaled a couple of times and closed her eyes, relaxing herself, which turned out quite effective. Defeated, she uttered under her breath with a little pout on her lips, "Fine. So how can we find this girl? I bet she ran with her earth bending to get away from us faster."

"Let me handle this." As Aang said that, he knelt one of his legs and planted both of his hands on the ground. He closed his eyes and then bright light shone from them and his tattoos.

Sokka walked closer to his sister, covering his mouth and whispered, "What is he doing?" from the corner of his eyes, he saw her shrugged her shoulders, so he came to a conclusion. "Okay, avatar stuff. Noted."

Katara narrowed her eyes, not approving his brother's statement. She nudged her brother at his ribs, her eyes opened wide enough for her eyeballs to pop out. Suddenly, a thought struck her and her features returned to normal, except a bright idea seemed to light her face. "It's like… in the swamp! He was like this too when we were searching for Appa! Remember?"

"Yeah, all glowy." He nodded and looped his hand round and round, circling Aang from his point of view. The water bender beside him slapped his hand down, visibly annoyed with what he's doing to her boyfriend. They exchanged stares from each other; one is a confused stare, and one is a motherly threatening stare, which backed off her staring contest opponent.

Their attention was directed back to the boy before them. His glow was vanishing, a sign that his consciousness had came back. He whispered under his breath, panting, "She… was sleeping under a tree in the village near the mountains across this place… but still inside this city."

"Alright! Let's go get her!" Sokka jumped joyfully toward Appa.

"I can't." Aang said, stopping Sokka's leap as the warrior turned and gave him a confused look. "I have a meeting in the palace and I'm already late."

Sokka crinkled his brows and confronted him, "So what do we do now? Get you to the meeting while our friend is on the run?"

"I think you should go after her, Sokka." Katara said before the avatar answered her brother's question.

"What?!" he backed slowly, his tone was filled with disbelief. Thousands of questions were running in his mind. He did want to chase her, but why him? Why alone? Why not Katara?

"You can calm her down. The only one who ever did and could. You are her best friend. I'm sure she won't be happy to see me face to face with her alone. And if that happens, she will never be back to her family and therefore, everything will be destroyed by them – or him. But with you, it's a different story. She would listen to me if you come along too." Katara's spoken thought lingered in his head. _The only one who ever did and could. Best friend. Never be back. Never back. The only one._

He knew the last part of it was true. If Toph didn't return to her family, not just Aang, but the whole world depending on him will be hopelessly ruined.

_Alright Sokka, you can do this. You're detective Sokka, with fancy hats and an awesome bubble pipe. You can do this._

Sokka closed his eyes and released his tension with each breath he took. With a fist thrown up to the air, he turned around and walked away. "Just to the edge of the town, right? I'll be back soon before you know it. I brought my sword with me, so I'll be fine." He waved his hand, receiving shouts of 'thank you' and 'good bye' from the couple.

"We'll catch up with you after the meeting is over!

"Okay, wish me luck." He whispered.

* * *

"_Oh, I can't wait for your daughter to be mine in law!"_

"_Yes, we all can't wait."_

"_I believe we should set the wedding's date."_

"_I have consulted with a fortuneteller. According to their birth dates, this is the best day."_

"_Hmm… could it be a little sooner?"_

"_It can… but your son will be under marrying age."_

"_Of course. Very well, it is settled, then!"_

* * *

The wind blew slowly, twitching his tan skin at their first contact. His nose caught an earthy smell that always appeared when rain was coming. He looked up to the already dark sky. His eyes seized a sight of lightning, followed by a thunder which echo rumbled through his eardrums. A big drip of chilly raindrop hoofed his forehead. The warrior brushed it off his face as he ran to the nearest shelter, a deserted tavern at the edge of the road.

He plunked himself to a wooden bench beside the door, relaxing his mind. Dribbles of water dripped from a rather big crack of its canopy near him, caught by a pail placed right below it. He leaned his back against the wall. But actually, he was leaning to a black cloak. He raised his hands and took it off the wall hanger. It was still in good condition, except for a fairly big rip at the left side of it. He looked around, searching for the cloak's owner, but eventually found no one near the building. He shrugged and put it on. Turned out the cloak was too big for his lean body.

He jumped when wind blew a bunch of water in the canopy. He realized he would get soaked if he didn't get inside. He was going to knock the door when he realized it was useless if there was no one inside. He leaned and pressed his ear to the door, searching for the tiniest of sound. Unfortunately, the weight of his body shoved the door open and he slipped ungracefully inside, falling head first. Darkness welcomed him, blinding him for a few seconds. He blinked, trying to adapt his eyes in the dark, and looked around.

It was a rather small place with a quite long table at the corner of it, just a few meters before the exit. There was some space between the wall and the table, enough for three people in a row to sit behind it. In front of the table, at the inner side of it placed a broken chair with only three legs, which would drop anyone who dared sitting on it. Rats and termites had gnawed most of their dusty surface, leaving it with holes and cracks everywhere anyone could see. Two small windows, though one of them was broken, were made at either walls of the room, allowing dim light to brighten the place a little.

Lightning stroke the earth, sending all the animals shrieked in panic and ran to their holes for dear life. Another door creaked open. His eyes twitched upwards, curiosity quickly took over his mind. Relying on his instincts, he tip-toed and peeped in, eyeing three people in it. The atmosphere was damp and soggy. It was pitch black, except for a faint moonlight glowing from a window, which unfortunately was half covered by a huge wardrobe placed at the corner.

"So you've come." He heard a man in black talked to the other two in the room. "I've heard a few rumors about you. They said you are good and stealthy in what I am going to ask you to do."

"Say what you want from us." The boy stepped forward confidently. The girl beside him expanded her arm, stopping him from doing what he was going to do, and whispered him something Sokka couldn't hear. The boy backed off and hinted her to take the lead. Her gaze shifted to the man in front of them, demanding an answer for her companion's question.

"I want you to track and bring someone to here," the cloaked figure gave them two pieces of paper and a small clinking bag. "Remember, each scar will lower your reward. And if dead, none."

The girl observed the man, and opened the bag. The boy stole a glance into it, and lifted his brows at the glimpse of its contents. The girl bowed to the man in front of them, followed by the young man beside her. "Your wish is our command." They gestured the man to leave before them politely, and started to walk toward Sokka who was standing behind the door.

Sokka obviously panicked. Rushing out of the place wouldn't be a good option. Everyone would hear the squeaking voice of shifting door and that's it. All's over. **He's** over. His eyes spotted a frail table, and his body immediately hid himself inside, hoping no one would see him there. The darkness wrapping him may probably enough to put him out of their sight. He pulled up the hood slowly, turned out it was big enough to cover half of his face.

The man walked through him. Sokka clammed his mouth and opened his eyes, peeking through a crack in the table.

The man had exited the tavern they were in. The rest of them walked out as the boy took the papers his friend was holding, and unfolded it. "This is…"

Sokka narrowed his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of what written in the paper. His eyes widened when he recognized one thing, a whisper of curse slipped out of his lips.

The girl grabbed those papers back from him and scrolled them, then tucked it into her under tunic and continued walking. "Yes, I know."

_Come on, you two! Get out!_

One of them stopped. She heaved the other person's arm, stopping him from walking forward too.

_Thump. Thump. Thump. _

A pair of legs was now walking towards him.

_Oh shit, oh shit!_ He grasped his sword, readying himself for self-defense.

A dart flew to his direction, right to the hole his eyes was peeking through. He shoved himself to the ground, and rolled out of the table. A young man, the same as the one he saw just now, was now standing before him, thrusting his sword to Sokka's chest. He may be caught in shock, but his body wasn't. He rolled to the other side of his body with his sword blocking and redirecting the man's sword, leaving it pierced to the ground. Taking the opportunity, he kicked the man in the chest and sent him swung backward. He flipped his body and crawled out, then dashed to the exit. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the girl extended her arm. He knew that move. It was the same move Mai always used to throw her knives.

He ran a lot more quickly out the door and slammed it violently. He saw three tip of blades pierced through the wood, and without wasting any time left, he ran from the tavern for dear life.

_This is not good. Not good at all._

_to be continued_

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This story is based on the characters and plot of "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

* * *

Once again, thank you for all who had added this story to their favorites and alerts, and to people who added me to their author alerts and favorites, and obviously, for those who had reviewed my story. It's a great honor!

And ta-dah! A little action, if it could be considered action.

There was a change in middle of the previous chapter (chapter 3), before Sokka found Toph. I am very, very sorry for the inconvenience. My bad. My mistake.

Thank you for reading my story, and I hope you enjoyed it! RnR!

**UPDATE**: Just some minor changes.

1. I fixed my mistakes. (Much thanks to my beloved reviewer, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer! If anyone spotted any more errors, please point it out for me!)

2. I changed the task the cloaked man gave our two special guests in this chapter to: "I want you to track and kill someone for me. Your actual reward will be yours after you finished the task." (previously: "I want you to track and bring someone to here. Remember, each scar will lower your reward. And if dead, none.") I thought it will be more exciting to kill the target than just to track and kept alive. **What do you think?**


	5. Lack of Luck

**Search for the Precious**

Chapter 5

"Lack of luck"

* * *

First off, thank you for **Sokka's Fan-Lawyer** and **SanchoBending** for the constructing review and advice, also **Zane-Ice-Fairy** and **hagithara** for the compliment. People like you are the ones that keeping me going with this story.

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Some spices of action for you! :D  
And I hope I'll hit 40 reviews with this chapter. :)

* * *

Warning: Mild cursing

**Constructing critiques are requested** (or just ordinary critiques are fine). PLEASE.

* * *

The blind bandit crossed her legs, sitting on a bench in some random park she didn't even care to know exactly where. The rain was falling hard. Drop by drop, hitting the earth she loved, sending vibrations everywhere.

She never liked rain. Since she saw with earthbending, rain blurred her vision and to be honest, she hated that. She hated being blind again, being what other people always thought she was when they looked into her eyes. Those vibrations were overwhelming, and they always caused a headache for her.

Her hands rifled her backpack, searching for anything edible. She decided to eat-and sleep, if there was time-until the rain stopped. She would not continue walking until then.

* * *

His eyes spotted another inn along the way. He ran inside, panting after visiting homes, inns, shops, and restaurants before the one in front of him. His hand pulled a sheet of paper from inside his cloak, and opened his hood. Hope filled his deep, blue eyes, fixed to the lady he approached. His voice cracked open as he held up a picture he made himself, "Did you see this girl?"

Sokka knew his art wasn't the best, but people seemed to understand who he was asking about. The lady nodded her head politely and raised her hand, pointing to an intersection farther down the street, and then shifted it to the left. "He nodded as he comprehended her gestures and thanked the woman, his gratitude apparent by the warm smile on his face. He waved his hand as he pulled his hood up, getting ready to pierce through the rain.

Since his encounter with two horrifying strangers at the tavern, he had been running and searching without any rest. The cloak he took (_it wasn't stealing! It was hung there and no one was claiming it was theirs!_) was big enough to protect his head and cover his tan face that almost everyone knew. He loved getting those hero-praises after all, since he didn't get any in the war's period. He knew with those recognitions, people would try their best to help him finding Toph.

He couldn't just ask them if they had seen Toph, because he thought it was best for her. The news of Toph Bei Fong missing was a very exclusive rumor; even the avatar himself heard it a week after her disappearance. From his predictions, Toph mustn't be too far from here. And plus, it was raining hard. Maybe if he ran fast enough all the way through the rain, he could catch up to her. Maybe. But hey, this was worth trying, wasn't it?

He crept from shelters to shelters, canopies to canopies, trying to stay as dry as he could. He took his small water pouch and drank the liquid inside it, just to find it empty. He could have drunk the rain water, since it was raining at the moment. But no… Katara said people had been sick because they drank that kind of water. He looked around, and found a small building with a cracked sign in front of it.

He went over to get into a building at the other side of the road. He guessed it was a bar. The door might be closed, but the light and noise behind the walls and the sound of pouring water couldn't fool him. It must be a shop. Or maybe a drinking place. A bar.

"A bottle of water, please?" he asked as soon as his head enters the room. The whole shop – consisting only six people sitting at one table, even though there was six of them placed neatly all around the place - turned their head to his direction, quieting a bit. However, he was too oblivious to notice. The shop was small, dark, but pretty crowded and the atmosphere smelled sweaty. No wonder though, the only people here were a group of buffed guys drinking in this place. Obviously a gang, but not an ordinary gang. Tattoos were drawn at their upper arms, all similar to each other, marking their membership. Sokka could tell the leader wasn't in between this bunch. No one was acting more dominant than the other, as they were all treating each other with equal respect and admiration.

They ordered some kind of drink Sokka didn't know to a skinny young teenager behind a rather big table. Poor little kid, he's being bullied by those guys. They did seem intimidating after all. Those drinks they ordered smelt funny for his nose, like sake, but much mustier.

Sokka immediately assumed the skinny boy was the shopkeeper, and walked towards him casually as he tossed three copper coins and his water pouch on the table. The teen shot him a questioning look for a while.

"A bottle of water," He repeated.

The teenager turned away to take his order, sadly not recognizing him, which resulted a frown on his face. He flipped a chair in front of the table and plopped himself onto it, placing the back of the chair between his legs, and rested his chin on it.

The shopkeeper came back tossing his pouch across the table with a little too much strength, causing the pouch to fall down the table. His immediate reaction was to catch it, but unfortunately its lid slid open and his grip poured the just-bought-clean-water to his cloak. He huffed.

"Jerk." He muttered under his breath as he waved his hands, searching for his pouch's lid. Alas, his insult was loud enough for the shopkeeper to hear it. Just as he caught the lid, he turned away from the table, going out of the shop as soon as he could. There's no surprise why the shop was so empty, seeing the shopkeeper was as rude as that.

_BAM._

Sokka lifted his head. To his dismay, the door was slammed shut. He crinkled his brows, sniffing something's not right. A man was in his way. Another man, dressed in chocolate clothes, rose from his seat. He flicked his eyes, only to see the teenager behind the table glaring daggers at him.

The man in front of him, who was blocking his way out, was one of the guys that busied the shopkeeper. The man went towards him, squashing his courage to pieces. Once the man stood before him, suddenly he felt like a dwarf. A midget. He smiled awkwardly, hoping it would decrease his - or their, including his friends who seemed rather scary too - urge to be mad at him.

It took him just one flick at his back, and Sokka was already on the ground. He turned his head, accidentally looking at the man in the eye. It was the chocolate guy. He stamped a kick to Sokka's back, pinning him to the ground with Sokka's right hand pressed under his chest. Along with this action, his friends raised from their seats, smirking.

"It's been months since we have an easy punching bag to train with. Right, guys?" One of them, a man in dusty green clothes, fisted his palm while walking towards him, followed by some people behind the man, and spitted along the way. One, two, three (_whoa, that one's a chick!_) people coming towards him, four (_it's the mustache guy in front of the door before!_). Five, plus the guy on him.

"Heheh, I will definitely enjoy this. Especially after he insulted my son." The guy pinning him a.k.a chocolate guy snorted a mischievous grunt. Sokka couldn't believe such a well-built man actually had a skinny, unathletic son. Usually a muscular father would want a muscular son too, right?

A woman, unfortunately a buffed one too, showed up behind 'dusty green', grabbing something at her hips. "You've come to the wrong neighborhood, kiddo. This is a private bar. You're lucky to get water from here. We usually aren't kind enough to let anyone other than our gang to enter here."

"This isn't a neighborhood, Ran," teased a man with a black headband.

The said Ran warded the statement with an unintelligible groan, causing the 'headband' to snicker and pinch her cheek passionately. Sokka mentally face palmed himself; he really would have done it physically if his right hand was not underneath him. So instead he rolled his eyes. Oogies. Oogies everywhere. Even when he was going to be beaten to death.

A kick flew to his ribs. "What are you rolling your eyes to?" 'Headband' stepped forward, peeved. Sokka cringed, gritting his teeth; but he wasn't able to rub his soon-to-be bruise.

He shot those people a judging glare. How could they do this to someone only because he said, "jerk" to some guy's son? Except if he wasn't SOME GUY's son. A leader of some gang, perhaps? That means he messed with the wrong man. Or as 'Ran' said: the wrong neighborhood. So he miscalculated.

'Headband' slapped his cheek, causing a loud grunt escaped his lips. "What are you looking at?"

His voice was smug and cocky, and his tone was so high that if someone jumped from there he would certainly die. _Oh, that's it!_ He screamed quietly, _I'm not going to be slapped or kicked or anything-ed anymore!_

"Let's just say he's admiring your strong body, tough guy," Ran giggled, pulling 'headband' away from Sokka.

Slowly he moved his left hand into his cloak through its rip, acting like he was flailing, but actually he was reaching his dagger. It was one of the knives Mai had taught him how to throw, and now he had been carrying all the time.

"I am admirable, aren't I?" he planted a kiss on the woman's cheek, reddening her face. Sokka wanted to shut his eyes to avoid seeing more of such oogies, but he knew better than risk his life by closing his sight. So instead, he studied the five people bullying him.

First, 'chocolate'. As he said before, the man was wearing chocolate clothes. Judging from his foot weight and his body, he mustn't put real effort in holding Sokka on the ground, so a little poke on his bare left foot – which was on Sokka - would be enough to make him remove his leg in shock. His weapons… wait no weapons? Must be an earthbender then.

Second, 'dusty green', standing at the end of Sokka's body, leaning against some wooden table. A lean, tall guy, just like Sokka. For fighting style, he would bet he had a katana, seeing the length of the sword. Most likely an amateur, since he showed his weapon, not caring a bit about its protection. If he wasn't an amateur, he would cover it so that the blade won't get rusty and dull as a cause of its contacts with other things.

Third, 'headband', on Sokka's right. Big and buffed, a lover boy, oh, two hammers at hips. Short tempered, sensitive guy. He would guess 'headband' had no anger management. A little provocation would do the job.

And now, right beside 'headband', the chick. Or who was that? Ran. Judging from her clothes, she was a dodge and precise type of fighter. Typical. Was it just him, or did that woman not have any weapon at all? But she was wearing shoes! She must be a non-bender!

Ugh, whatever. Let's see the fifth, the mustache guy. He rolled his eyes upward, catching a quick look at the man in front of the door. To be honest, he didn't seem dangerous at all. He hadn't speak the entire time, so Sokka assumed he was the same kind of quiet people like long… long… long shot? Argh, kids. Making such complicated nicknames. Those were so difficult to remember! Okay, back to the man. He was holding a twin sword, akin to Zuko's.

"You're so narcissistic!" said Ran.

"You know me."

His eyes glowed as his hands finally grabbed his dagger. Lucky he was ambidextrous. If not, he would have difficulties in faking movements and reaching things with his non active hand – in this case, left hand. He had been like this since he was little. There was no one back then to teach him not to use left hand to do anything (sorry, left handed people :/), since her mother had gone long ago and his dad was always busy leading the tribe, unless he was out hunting for the whole said tribe.

_Dammit._ He thought. _Just a moment ago, I met two psychos that attacked me for no reason. Okay, I was eavesdropping so they had a reason. And now some horrifying guys are going to crush me to pieces. Shit. I have to get out from here. But how?_

"When will they stop doing this things in front of us?" 'Dusty green' sighed.

He flung his sight around, accidentally meeting 'Mustache's eyes. They stared for a while, leaving Sokka baffled when suddenly he remembered he was holding his dagger. Oh no, mustache saw his dagger. He must act fast now. If not, the buffed guy would take the dagger from him and 'chocolate' would pin him tighter to the floor! And if that happened, he wouldn't be able to get out from this hell at all.

"Until they are finally marrie-aw!" Sokka poked the hilt of his dagger at the instep, stopping 'chocolate' in the middle of his words. The weight of his body betrayed him as his left leg slid from Sokka's back, and fell straight to the ground as a cause of his imbalance. Sokka, on the other hand, quickly rolled to his left, accidentally knocking his head to a table. "Aw!" he rubbed his forehead as he drew his sword and formed his stance. His rise was greeted by clinking sounds of weapons being drawn by everyone – except 'chocolate', who was still trying to get up from the floor.

He was now head to head with all the five guys, with Ran nearest to him. Beside her was her boyfriend, his right hand was now grabbing his hammer – turned out it was a meteor hammer, which consisted of two weights chained to each other. Dusty green was completely calm, coolly grasping his sword, but hadn't drew it out yet.

He saw Ran pulled out two small blades. He knew that thing; he saw it once somewhere. If he was not mistaken, the double short dao was called "butterfly sword" - such a beautiful name for such a regular weapon.

'Headband', as expected, charged into him first. He spun and then flung his hammer towards his head. He dodged to the left, swinging his sword right under the hammer's weight, breaking its chain. He shoved the handle of his sword at the flat surface of its head, aiming to its owner.

It shoved 'headband' backwards, causing him to release the other part of his weapon. The man mustn't have expected this from such a teenager like him. He was well aware of how he looked - unconvincing. Although he wasn't the same skinny boy a year ago, since he had grown a few muscles here and there, his body was not buff and muscly.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw 'dusty green' , Ran, and 'mustache' stood dumbfounded, unluckily not lowering their awareness. "He smiled and threw his dagger, which pierced through the chain, and fixed it to the ground, as the three of them raised their guard. Their eyes burnt with enthusiasm, ears ringing with adrenaline rush. They hadn't had equal opponent for a while, since the whole city was afraid of their gang. No fighter was worth their energy, until this one came.

Sokka's brain immediately shifted to war mode. His eyes observed all things, even the little ones. His ears doubled its insight, waiting for the sound of swinging blades. His hands grabbed his sword more firmly, but not too much. As an old proverb said, if you hold a bird too tightly, you'll kill it. The same rule goes with sword, just like what master Piandao had taught him.

One movement from his right. Without a thought, he blocked 'dusty green's attack, his legs kicking the assaulter's stomach, sending him flying backwards and crashed him hard to the table he was leaning before. By this move, Ran threw one of her knives, and 'mustache' launched a strike to him.

"Hey! Not fair!" he shouted as he sneak behind a table – the same cursed table he knocked his head at, and rolled it to the ground, using it as his shield, "you're fighting only one person here! At least fight one on one with me!"

The ground rumbled, and before he knew what was happening, an earth pillar struck him. He flew, up in the air, falling clumsily on top of another table, head first.

_It was 'chocolate'! That jerk is the only earthbender here. I shouldn't have spared his feet! I should have slashed its flesh so he couldn't earthbend anymore! even just a tiny bit could have done it! I'm such an idiot sometimes!_

"Shit!" he cursed as he tried to get up, feeling the whole world spinning around him. At this point, he knew he's going to lose. He couldn't regain his balance, thus he got up on all fours, which was the best thing he could do at the moment.

Have he not achieved his steadiness back, 'headband' already threw his hammer to him. His eyes widened, and tried to dodge the weapon. But his attempt failed as it whirled around his leg and tied them, pulling him to the hammer's owner.

He turned his head, simply to see 'mustache' charging to him, planting both of his swords at either side of his head.

_This is it._ He screamed silently. _I'm entirely their punching bag now._

He closed his eyes, shutting it tight. a mixture of colors filled his eyes, an effect of his headache which, speaking of it, was growing more painful by the second.

He was stuck.

And suddenly 'mustache' fell backwards.

_to be continued_

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This story is based on the characters and plot of "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

* * *

For SanchoBending: Since I can't find your ff profile, I'll reply your review here. but first, thank you for your review! xD second, I'd take your advice. And once again, thank you! So much!

Once again, thank you for all who had added this story to their favorites and alerts, and to people who added me to their author alerts and favorites, and especially, for those who had reviewed my story. I love you all! xD

For anyone who's confused: when Sokka was pinned, from front to right: near the door was 'mustache, then Ran, 'headband', and 'chocolate', who was pinning him with his left foot, then the last one was 'mustache' behind him.  
When he got up, from left to right was 'mustache' (he was the farthest from Sokka from the rest of the guys), 'Ran', 'headband', 'chocolate' (at that moment he was still mourning his collapse), and 'dusty green'.  
I hope these can clear things a bit.

**Tell me; is there too less or too much graphical depiction? Or maybe the action scene didn't work well? Please advice, action scenes are not my major, but it is needed in this chapter.  
Answer please! :)**

Grammatical or spelling corrections, advises, plot improvement, everything is welcomed. If you don't feel comfortable posting with your own profile, I'd love to hear anonymous opinions too!

So please don't be shy and help me improve the story!

* * *

UPDATE: A few errors have been corrected, thanks Sokka's Fan Lawyer (one of my favorite writer ever) with his detailed review.

Seriously, check his fanfictions out! Or at least check **Wakin' up in Ba Sing Se **(fanfictionDOTnet/s/7411286)out, that's my personal favorite. He made drunk Tokka into something new and epic!


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